Tips for law students who want to get active in their law student society

In the same episode, he unpacked the wide-ranging professional skills law students can develop through involvement in their law society – regardless of the role they take on or the level of commitment they choose.

Pereira pointed out that if you want a spot on your university’s law society committee, the primary path usually comes down to one thing: being “elected” by your fellow students for that position.

However, he acknowledged that the process goes far beyond simply winning a committee election, noting that it often resembles a popularity contest more than a merit-based selection.

“It turns out to be a bit more of a popularity contest rather than anything else, which can be a good and a bad thing. I guess a good thing is that if you are popular, kind of in the high school context,” he said.

“But then also kind of in a bad way, where you may not necessarily have the best candidate get selected, just someone who can actually fulfil the role. It’s just kind of who would get the most votes.”

Despite this, Pereira emphasised that elections are only the final stage, stressing how there are countless opportunities to establish yourself and showcase your capabilities long before the university law society vote.

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“I think, really, when you boil it down, you can really just see there’s a lot of ways to preliminary before that stage, before the election every year to really put your name out there and really just show to all the people voting that you are a candidate who should be elected, and you probably will and you probably will get the role,” he said.

He explained that these opportunities take many forms, from more formal events such as expert panels and meet-the-firm sessions to social initiatives like first-year law camp and even bar nights.

“For example, at the start of the year, there are so many different events, like I’ve been mentioning, you can go to,” he said.

“You’ve got all of those different expert panels, you’ve got all the different meet-the-firm opportunities, and those are just in careers. My university also has a run club where you can meet people, a first-year law camp, and different bar nights. So those are all really good as well.”

By consistently showing up and forming genuine connections, Pereira explained that law students can build a strong reputation within both the law society and the wider student cohort – making their presence and capabilities known and significantly increasing their chances of earning trust and, ultimately, votes.

“Once you kind of undergo all of those and then it gets to the latter stage of the year where you do finally put your name up for election ... if you spend enough time in those situations and enough people know who you are and what you can do, they will put you in,” he said.

“They will vote for you, and they will try to get at least the best people into those positions to try to run the society for the next year.”

For students looking to get more involved, Pereira urged them to reach out to those already in the roles they aspire to, emphasising that a law society should be a launchpad for everyone – not a closed circle where leadership is limited to a select few.

“I would encourage anyone to reach out and to ask for any advice whatsoever because, at the end of the day, you want to build a kind of close, encouraging space for everyone where everyone can thrive and be their best,” he said.

“You don’t just want to hold those positions off just for a certain number of people, you want to uplift everyone around you equally … so I would really just definitely reach out to anyone because I’m sure they probably want to help you as much as you want to be helped yourself.”